Repetitive low intensity magnetic field stimulation in a neuronal cell line: a metabolomics study.
Hong I, Garrett A, Maker G, Mullaney I, Rodger J, Etherington SJrkip. · 2018
View Original AbstractMagnetic fields alter brain cell metabolism in frequency-specific ways, with lower frequencies producing stronger effects on cellular energy processes.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rat brain cells to weak magnetic fields at 1 Hz and 10 Hz frequencies, finding both altered cellular energy processes, with 1 Hz having stronger effects. This demonstrates that magnetic fields can change how brain cells function biochemically, providing insights into magnetic stimulation's neural effects.
Why This Matters
This research adds to our understanding of how magnetic fields interact with neural tissue at the cellular level. The 10 mT exposure used here is significantly higher than typical everyday magnetic field exposures, which are usually measured in microteslas (µT) rather than milliteslas (mT). What makes this study particularly relevant is that it demonstrates frequency-specific effects - the 1 Hz stimulation produced stronger metabolic changes than 10 Hz, showing that not all magnetic field exposures are equivalent. The researchers found changes in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which is fundamental to cellular energy production, suggesting that magnetic fields can influence basic cellular processes in neural tissue. While these findings come from isolated cells rather than intact brain tissue, they provide biological plausibility for the neurological effects reported in human studies of EMF exposure.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 10 mG
- Source/Device
- 1 Hz and 10 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 10 minutes
Exposure Context
This study used 10 mG for magnetic fields:
- 500Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 100Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
This study investigates the behavioural effects of low intensity repetitive magnetic stimulation (LI-rMS) at a cellular and biochemical level
We delivered LI-rMS (10 mT) at 1 Hz and 10 Hz to B50 rat neuroblastoma cells in vitro for 10 minutes...
LI-rMS at both frequencies depleted selected tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites without affe...
Show BibTeX
@article{i_2018_repetitive_low_intensity_magnetic_653,
author = {Hong I and Garrett A and Maker G and Mullaney I and Rodger J and Etherington SJrkip.},
title = {Repetitive low intensity magnetic field stimulation in a neuronal cell line: a metabolomics study.},
year = {2018},
url = {https://peerj.com/articles/4501/},
}